Wear this and never wash it... okay... do wash it. It's a long season.
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The Four Aces simply aren’t enough.
That’s what Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro may have insinuated on Tuesday when he spoke with Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. When asked about the possibility of trading the 30-year old rightie, Amaro responded.
“I don’t feel comfortable doing it,” Amaro told FOXSports.com. “He’s going to pitch for the Phillies, probably for the entire season.”
The statement all but completes the five-man rotation for the Phils in 2011. Blanton will likely join Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels. Together, they will be R2C2 and C3P-Joe… and no, I did not come up with that. View full article »
Months later, people are still making LeBron look selfish.
“Blurb Sauce!” is a quick look at some of the stories floating around the blogosphere today. It’s also the condiment that ruins Santa’s diet every year.
Hey LeBron, This Is How You Do It
Carlos Peña is not LeBron James. Peña plays baseball, James plays basketball. Peña is good, James is legendary. There’s also a good chance they have different favorite foods, but because pizza exists, I can’t guarantee that.
It would be rare to see these two names in the same sentence… ever, but read this carefully. LeBron James could take a page or two out of Peña’s book. After he joined the Chicago Cubs in free agency this offseason, the former Tampa Bay Ray took an ad out in the Tampa Bay Tribune. You can check out the text of that ad at Carrie Muskat’s Chicago Cubs blog on the MLBlogs Network.
That’s the classy way to go out, King James. A heartfelt thank you to the city that embraced you with open arms for four years (in Lebron’s case, seven… well, really most of his life). There’s a way to make the right decision, and a way to make “The Decision”. Looks like Carlos Peña made the right one.
Stan Hochman attempts a nickname for R2C2… a week too late.
With all due respect to longtime Philadelphia sportswriter Stan Hochman, someone at the Philadelphia Daily News should have had the guts to let him know that this article wasn’t going to fly.
Hochman’s piece reflects around finding a nickname for the new and improved Phillies pitching staff, but this comes a week too late, and the nicknames he suggests are mostly terrible. He settled on “Un-four-gettables”. He will be the only one to ever call them that.
It’s a shame that people will read this today and roll their eyes at legendary sportswriter from our great city. I will admit, however, that I love “Mount Rushfour”. You didn’t completely strikeout, Stan, and you’re still the man.
Andy Reid didn’t see questionable replays on Sunday
The wonderful folks at Philly Sports Daily did a quick write-up on Andy Reid’s press conference yesterday, where Reid claimed that they didn’t see replays of questionable calls yesterday, which did affect the coach’s decision to hold the red challenge flag in key situations. You can catch that story here.
It sounds a little suspect to hear something like this, especially considering the number of reversible calls made by the referees in the big division matchup. You have to wonder if the Eagles would have that problem at Lincoln Financial Field…
KO in Phoenix
I was scrolling through Yahoo! hockey blog “Puck Daddy” this morning when I caught this impressive knockout punch from Pens defenseman Deryk Engelland to the Coyotes Taylor Pyatt.
I hate the Pens as much as the next Philadelphian, but that was a heck of a shot to add insult to injury. The Penguins were already up 5-0 early in the third. The game was over, but this is what happens when an embarrassed team tries to play for pride.
Cliff Lee informing us where we'll finish in the NL East this year.
At 3:00 pm today, Cliff Lee was reintroduced to the Philadelphia media as the newest member of the Phillies. Earlier, the left-hander signed a five-year, $120 million deal with a vesting option for the sixth year. Lee seemed happy and mentioned during the presser that “good things are going to happen.”
Lee was asked about his journey through free agency, mentioning a number of times that he wanted to return to the Phillies, but also said that “going into the offseason I wasn’t sure how serious the Phillies were going to be.”
Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. added that “it wasn’t an easy decision to get here… we went a little bit out of our element.” He continued. “This was a special circumstance. This was too important to the organization, and too important for the present and the future of our franchise not to do it.”
The move was certainly out of character for an organization that doesn’t typically offer contracts beyond three or four years. Even Phils’ ace Roy Halladay received just a three-year contract with a fourth year vesting option included. But now with Halladay and Lee pitching on a staff with Roy Oswalt and homegrown Cole Hamels, the foursome has the potential to be a part of something special.
“Being part of this rotation is going to be historic I believe.” Lee said. The trio known an H2O was part of what made Lee want to come here. “Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels? That’s all I need to see right there.”
Now, “H2O” has becoming the wildly popular “R2C2″.
Lee’s deal isn’t the six or seven years that had dominated much of the talk surrounding him all offseason, but the pitcher seemed to be excited and relieved that he would remain in the same place for awhile, maybe the rest of his career.
“Hopefully this is… where I end my career. No more getting traded and traded again… and getting traded again.
Lee’s comment drew some chuckles from the assembled media, who asked a number of questions regarding Lee’s initial departure from Philadelphia. When asked if there was any resentment from being traded the first time, Lee responded.
“For me to be here kind of says enough. I never held any grudges.”
And we are so thankful that he didn’t.
Other notes from the press conference:
Around 4:00 pm, Jayson Stark tweeted “This is a guess, not a scoop, because no one will confirm it. But no team fits profile of Cliff Lee’s mystery team more than the #Phillies.”
Is it possible that this man will wear this uniform again?
Three hours later, Ken Rosenthal confirmed that the “mystery team” theory had some merit. Aside from the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, the Philadelphia Phillies are the wild card in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. With every minute that passes as we approach the later hours of Monday night, the story is picking up steam. Lee’s return to Philadelphia is not exactly a likelihood in my eyes, but unbelievably, it seems to be a possibility. There’s even talk of the Phillies shopping Joe Blanton to other ball clubs.
In speaking with friends and reading blogs and news sites, there seems to be a split between just how logical a move like this would be. The Phillies already have “H2O” in Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt. But an “H2O” transformation into “R2C2″ would make the Phillies starting rotation the most dominant in the game by far, if they aren’t already.
The question of logic lies in the offensive side. With Jayson Werth’s departure to the division rival Washington Nationals, the team has lost their big right-handed bat. With no guarantee that Domonic Brown is the immediate answer in right field, the Phillies may have trouble piecing together a fluid lineup. As my friend told me today, “We’re either going to be winning or losing every game by a run. We need to fill the hole in that offense with a solid rightie bat.”
As of 10:05 pm, the YES Network is reporting that Lee is heading to the Phils. However, there is so much talk across the board right now, it’s hard to confirm until a Heyman, Stark, or Rosenthal can put their stamp on a confirmed move. There is also talk that the Rangers increasing pursuit of Adrian Beltre is a sign that the possibility of Lee joining them is less of a likelihood. If Beltre is signed, it’s highly doubtful that the Rangers will even be able to sign Lee.
It was also reported minutes ago by Tyler Kepner of the New York Times that the Yankees are becoming increasingly pessimistic about signing Lee. The more time that passes, the better it looks for Ruben Amaro, Jr. The New York Post is also reporting a similar story.
So what do we do now? We sit and wait. The way things seem to be moving, I’m expecting something tonight.
